Paper-fastener



(No Model.)

J. G. JENSEN.

PAPER FASTENER. No. 377,032. Patented Jan. 81, 1888.

fiwsmi- ,fizl/erdal" IINTTE STATES PATENT EFIeE.

JOHN C. JENSEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PAPER-FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 377,032, dated January 31, 1888.

Application filed October 26, 1887. Serial No. 253.472.

T0 aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN C. JENSEN, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, and a citizen of the United States, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Paper-Fasteners, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an edge view. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the fastener shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a paperfastener having a round cap or head applied thereto. All of the figures are considerably enlarged.

Metallic paper fasteners have heretofore been made with two prongs of equal length and pointed at the ends to facilitate their insertion through a hole pierced in several sheets of paper, for binding the sheets together, by opening and turning down the prongs; but in so doing the user was obliged to insert his thumbnail or finger-nail bet-ween the pointed prongs, and was liable to be pricked or stuck under the nail by the point. It was sought to overcome this objection to the use of such paper-fasteners with both prongs pointed by making the prongs of unequal length, so that after the passage through the hole pierced in the sheets the prongs could be separated or spread apart, as one prong projecting slightly beyond the other was believed to present an opportunity for pushing to one side the prong having the longer point; but in practice it has been found that the shorter prong would catch in passing through and interfere with the ready insertion of the fastener, and that the objection of pricking the fingers was not wholly overcome, as the user still had to use his finger-nail to open the prongs.

My invention is designed to overcome the objections to the old styles of paper-fasteners, which I accomplish by constructing a metallic paperfastener having prongs of equal length, with the end of one prong pointed and the end of the other rounded to form a guard for the pointed end, enabling the two prongs to be readily inserted and to be readily spread apart after insertion through the sheets of paper to be bound together.

In the drawings, A represents myimproved paper-fastener, formed of a metal strip, bent (No model.)

on itself to have a head, a, and to have two prongs of equal length, the end of one prong, a, being pointed, and the end of the other prong, I), being rounded.

By making the ends of the prongs a and I) as described, and the prongs of equal length, such prongs can be readily and quickly separated, and without liability of the pointed end entering the fingers of the user, as until the prongs are spread apart the pointed prong is covered by the rounded one. In spreading the prongs apart, after they have been passed through the sheets of paper to be bound together, the prong having the rounded or blunt end is bent to one side by pressing on the in ner side face of the rounded end with the finger or finger-nail, which is easily done, and avoids the necessity of inserting the fingernail endwise between the prongs, as has now to be done with the old-style fastener, the formation of the end of the pointed prong leaving a sufficient portion of the rounded end exposed for the user to press against sidewise. After the blunt or rounded end has been pressed back away from the pointed end, such pointed end can be readily pressed back without danger of sticking the finger or thumb of the user, as the whole of the prong projecting through the paper is left free to press against when turning it back.

As metallic paperfasteners are now generally inserted in holes first formed in the sheets of paper by a punchingtool, it is not essential that both prongs should be pointed in order to force them through the paper, and the pointed prong here shown and described is not for that purpose, but is so formed for the purpose of leaving a portion of the inside face of the op posite prong exposed to enable a sidewise pressure to be applied thereto for the purpose described.

The paper-fastener can be provided with any kind of a head, 0, desired, two, forms being shown in the drawings.

By using a paper-fastener having the prongs of equal length, as shown and described here in, more sheets of paper can be bound together than with a paperfastener of the old style having one prong shorter than the other.

Paper fasteners comprising two parallel shanks 0r prongs resting against each other blunt end to facilitate the spreading apart of and having the inner adjacent edges of their the prongs after they have been inserted pointed extremities formed into diverging through papers to be fastened, said rounded cutters have been made; but thisconstruction I or blunt end of one prong guarding the pointed r 5 5 do not claim. end of the other until they are spread apart;

What I claim as new, and desire to secure substantially as described.

by Letters Patent, isp s a The herein described paper-fastener, con- I JOHN JENSEN sisting of two parallel prongs of substantially WVitne'sses: 10 equal lengtlnrone of which is formed with a ALBERT H. ADAMS, pointed end and the other with a rounded or HARRY T. J ONES. 

